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anyone religious willing to answer some questions?

i promise not to be a dick. hopefully.

1) why should anyone have to pray for forgiveness if they haven't really done anything wrong to god? i don't ask my real parents for forgiveness every time i tell a little white lie or whatever, so i don't think it should matter to god. you should probably feel bad if you've seriously hurt someone emotionally or physically, i guess, but even then, why is that any of god's business

1) why should anyone have to pray for forgiveness if they haven't really done anything wrong to god? i don't ask my real parents for forgiveness every time i tell a little white lie or whatever, so i don't think it should matter to god. you should probably feel bad if you've seriously hurt someone emotionally or physically, i guess, but even then, why is that any of god's business

its a matter of repenting for your sins. Jesus died for us so we can forgiven of our sins. By repent of your sins. You are basicly telling god your sorry. As we all sin against god. We are born into sin sadly. There is some sins that are unforgivable. mainly blaspheming against the holy spirt. The devil and his minons job is to decive us and cause us to do wrong. But like i said we all sin. It is unavoidable. You can lock ya self in a room with no outside contact and still sin. Just ask for forgiveness and ask Jesus into your life. My self i dont even know how god still loves me for i am just bat shit crazy and am a mess

1) why should anyone have to pray for forgiveness if they haven't really done anything wrong to god? i don't ask my real parents for forgiveness every time i tell a little white lie or whatever, so i don't think it should matter to god. you should probably feel bad if you've seriously hurt someone emotionally or physically, i guess, but even then, why is that any of god's business

I assume you're speaking about the Catholic religion.
You do not have to pray for forgiveness. Jesus already died for all our sins. You pray to thank God, and for good fortune.

You only ever pray for forgiveness when you yourself do something wrong.

If you accidentally hit your mum in the head with a bat, you would say sorry, right?
Well if you accidentally slept with your neighbours wife, you pray for forgiveness so you can stay on Gods good side and get into heaven when you die.

its a matter of repenting for your sins. Jesus died for us so we can forgiven of our sins. By repent of your sins. You are basicly telling god your sorry. As we all sin against god. We are born into sin sadly. There is some sins that are unforgivable. mainly blaspheming against the holy spirt. The devil and his minons job is to decive us and cause us to do wrong. But like i said we all sin. It is unavoidable. You can lock ya self in a room with no outside contact and still sin. Just ask for forgiveness and ask Jesus into your life. My self i dont even know how god still loves me for i am just bat shit crazy and am a mess

that doesn't really answer the question, though.

why does god care about whether we sin?

and why do we need to ask forgiveness for little things that wouldn't matter very much to anyone else?

edit: Songz answered the question quite well. thanks.

got another one:

2) why do people bother to pray to ask god for things if god already has a divine plan and won't alter it?

and why do we need to ask forgiveness for little things that wouldn't matter very much to anyone else?

edit: Songz answered the question quite well. thanks.

got another one:

2) why do people bother to pray to ask god for things if god already has a divine plan and won't alter it?

I always wondered that, "lord give me strength" but what do you have to offer? Im sure merely believing in a god is not of worth... That sounds uber atheist I know, but I am slightly agnostic too, "god" is something we can't comprehend, not what is in a book.

1) why should anyone have to pray for forgiveness if they haven't really done anything wrong to god? i don't ask my real parents for forgiveness every time i tell a little white lie or whatever, so i don't think it should matter to god. you should probably feel bad if you've seriously hurt someone emotionally or physically, i guess, but even then, why is that any of god's business

it's a state of mind. in today's world where everything seems plentiful, luxurious and easy, it seems easy to just focus on life and enjoy yourselves.

but if you imagine what a world fo scarcity and want is like, then praying for forgiveness is a part of the discipline we can use everyday to help us focus on the hard work and appreciate that the hardships or difficulties or sacrifices that we make (ie: thinking about nice things to eat when we cannot have them), is worthwhile.

then the next step is easy to understand - although the world today looks easy for those living in the west - the truth is making a living for yourself and raising a family is really really hard and challenging. so praying for forgiveness for thinking about those things you want but must always sacrifice (eg: needing to be stern with your children, giving up nice clothes so u can buy your children better things etc) is just part of the discipline which helps you focus on working hard.

it's just a discipline. and the discipline becomes more relevant and useful the harder real life is. Some people pray for forgiveness, some people just pray, some people do pushups etc.

Be warned - I am a major player of Regnum Online the mmo. I've been playing it for about 2 years and rarely go without logging in at least once a day. You can also look at good alternatives to Regnum such ase Aion online and Aika Online.

I know discipline. I have met fiercely disciplined people. Not one of them religious.

I know a wide spectrum of religious people too. None of them have a clue what discipline is. They do not lead by example, because they can't. When they encounter a problem that is hard to deal with, they run away from it.

There is one thing Jesus definitely never was and that's religious. There is one thing he definitely never did say and that was "pray all the time, because prayer is important."

1) why should anyone have to pray for forgiveness if they haven't really done anything wrong to god?

Because sex is evil and reincarnation is your punishment for having sex when you first incarnated as a human to help the sinful humans attain enlightenment because when you had sex in previous lives it created demons because ejaculating is evil therefore there are demons controlling your mind now which are responsible for everything bad that happens to you because they feed on your soul's energy and get more powerful by breaking and undermining your will. So you should pray to God to help you resist the influence of the demons so that you can starve them to death by not feeding them any of your soul's energy. Then you can go to heaven when you die. Otherwise you'll be reincarnated as a pig and then as a worm and then as a weed and then a rock and then all of the experience and soul energy you've accumulated over all of your lives will be absorbed into God so that you can become a flower and then a bee and then a bird and then a dog/dolphin and then a mentally retarded human and then a smart human who can pray to God so that he'll let you stop reincarnating.
- Gnosticism as preached by Samael Aun Weor

Also, if you suffer as a flower or a dog or a tree then it's because the other person who killed you in a competition for resources for survival killed you for the greater good because you had bad karma which is why reborn souls have to reincarnate as innocent flower/animal/plant lives free of suffering so that they can grow their soul energy, which is why innocent lives don't experience suffering and any life that harms an innocent life becomes evil and accrues karma and it's ok for animals to eat each other because they all share the same soul so it's like the one that got murdered is helping the predator to continue its life and develop its soul because the prey's mission on earth was complete so it could go to heaven which is why it died. And if anything bad happens to you it is because of bad karma from your wrongdoings and sin in previous lives (sex being the pinnacle of all sin) and because horrible experiences are a growing experience so that you can learn to control yourself when the demons in your head are trying to make you do wrong things.

Because sex is evil and reincarnation is your punishment for having sex when you first incarnated as a human to help the sinful humans attain enlightenment because when you had sex in previous lives it created demons because ejaculating is evil therefore there are demons controlling your mind now which are responsible for everything bad that happens to you because they feed on your soul's energy and get more powerful by breaking and undermining your will. So you should pray to God to help you resist the influence of the demons so that you can starve them to death by not feeding them any of your soul's energy. Then you can go to heaven when you die. Otherwise you'll be reincarnated as a pig and then as a worm and then as a weed and then a rock and then all of the experience and soul energy you've accumulated over all of your lives will be absorbed into God so that you can become a flower and then a bee and then a bird and then a dog/dolphin and then a mentally retarded human and then a smart human who can pray to God so that he'll let you stop reincarnating.
- Gnosticism as preached by Samael Aun Weor

Also, if you suffer as a flower or a dog or a tree then it's because the other person who killed you in a competition for resources for survival killed you for the greater good because you had bad karma which is why reborn souls have to reincarnate as innocent flower/animal/plant lives free of suffering so that they can grow their soul energy, which is why innocent lives don't experience suffering and any life that harms an innocent life becomes evil and accrues karma and it's ok for animals to eat each other because they all share the same soul so it's like the one that got murdered is helping the predator to continue its life and develop its soul because the prey's mission on earth was complete so it could go to heaven which is why it died. And if anything bad happens to you it is because of bad karma from your wrongdoings and sin in previous lives (sex being the pinnacle of all sin) and because horrible experiences are a growing experience so that you can learn to control yourself when the demons in your head are trying to make you do wrong things.

Can I have what you are smoking? Also that sounds like mild schizophrenia.

your not a religious type maybe or you do not even care if you are catholic the answer is in the bible and that is why they asking for forgiveness cause in the bible stated that what ever you do/did to your brother or to your sister not saying your real bro or sis its general means to all! is you do to HIM to GOD. hope it answer your query

No. This forum has proven time and again that it cannot be nice about these subjects.

I would be surprised, if the breakthrough in that regard came from this little forum...
It' not a nice subject. Let's call the thing by it's right name.
Religion is about power and restriction of that power is again, just about power.

One might say there is such a thing as private believe. The only problem is with it, that there is no such thing as a publicly expressed private believe.

(Op should probably have asked for pms. Making a thread ends in the thread going a threads way.)

and why do we need to ask forgiveness for little things that wouldn't matter very much to anyone else?

edit: Songz answered the question quite well. thanks.

got another one:

2) why do people bother to pray to ask god for things if god already has a divine plan and won't alter it?

So I'm just going to be the only dude who actually is following the wishes of the OP in this topic and answer Postrook's next question.

You have heard that wrong yet again. God gave us free will. He has a plan for us, but he trusts that we will make the right decisions to get there. He allows all humans to make their own decisions, and guides and helps them when they are lost.

So if Gods plan was for "John Doe" to save people in Africa. But he started as a famous football star. When his decisions in life push him to a dark place, and he's lost. God would then guide him back onto his plan. (saving children in Africa with the huge amounts of money he made from his decision to become a football star).

So basically, you have free will and your own choices, but God also has a default plan for you when you get lost.

So you pray and ask God to help you with your journey, and he will grant it if it helps you follow the divine path he lead out for you.

Honestly, God's plan is actually not even that detailed, more like: serve him, praise him, love him, and all of man kind. You can do whatever the hell you want to as long as you make him happy before you die.

You can do whatever the hell you want to as long as you make him happy before you die.

That really doesn't work out.
I suppose it's what you arrive at, if you model yourself a god to the idea of the world you have. That in essence makes god worldly. The real answer would be that god is mysterious, doesn't work in logical, or other worldly ways and cant be explained.

Anyways, the idea of people actually believing what is written in the bible exhausts me.